hundreds of winters ago

hundreds of winters ago
till now

everything remains beautiful and true
through cycles of decay and regeneration

Kyo Ichinose & Yumito Awano.

this morning we took a drive with Mr Kyo Ichinose,
up to the city of Kawasaki in his little red
Volkswagen Polo, to see the last hues of Autumn.

Kyo-san is a treasured collaborator/mentor who wrote
the scores for three songs in A LITTLE FABLE.

We walked from dwelling to dwelling at the 民家園、
imagining the lives of the people who once lived there.

Everything was made by hand.

Pitched roofs stacked with layers and layers of hay.
Mouse-traps at the top of pillars. Floors constructed
by bamboo poles arranged in parallel.

Some houses had tatami floors laid throughout, others
lived on the scent and the soft texture of damp earth.

Farmers, horse merchants, ferrymen.

And the elusive 縁側 verdanda corridor that connects all rooms,
and acts as a barrier between indoor and outdoor – a subject of
obsession since my days as an architecture student.

It was beyond me to imagine life a hundred years ago
but we are all indeed the same human race.

An unforgettable experience,
being placed into a whirlpool of thoughts of the past,
and even the future that would be projected from the past.

Thank you Kyo & Yumito.

→　Kyo Ichinose
→　Yumito Awano 
→　日本民家園